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Title: general partner

Location: Menlo Park, US East

Firm Rating:

Firm Information:

Type: Medium Private VC

FIRM DESCRIPTION: Matrix Partners is a premier venture capital firm that has generated outstanding returns for over three decades. The firm has delivered several of the industry’s top performing funds of all time. Matrix Partners is headquartered in Waltham, Mass., and has offices in Menlo Park, CA, Mumbai, India and Beijing, China.
Matrix Partners is the firm entrepreneurs trust to provide the superior business counsel and operational assistance that gives their venture the very best opportunity to succeed. The firm has been fortunate to be a part of the creation of game-changing, industry-leading businesses such as Aruba Networks (Nasdaq: ARUN), JBoss (Red Hat), Netezza (NYSE: NZ), SanDisk (Nasdaq: SNDK), Starent Networks (Nasdaq: STAR), Sycamore Networks (Nasdaq: SCMR) and Veritas Software (Symantec).

My business partner and I have met with Nick Beim several times. We have met with several VCs but we were both extremely impressed with Nick. In every meeting he sharpened our thinking, his knowledge of the Internet space has been extremely valuable to us. Overall we had a great experience with Nick.

Posted by
anonymous
on 2007-12-31

PUBLIC:

Our experience was mixed. Matrix is on the lower end pitching efficiency, though we accepted it because we like the firm and the partner we were working with (Shirish Sathaye). The firm and Shirish had very relevant experience with our market and solution that was second to none. We passed the partners meeting and were negotiating terms when Matrix when they broke trust in negotiations. First red flag was said they would not do the deal with the VC firm that introduced us to Matrix, basically cutting the firm out of the deal. Then after verbally presenting terms (in the same meeting), they changed them and refuse to provide an updated term sheet until we verbally agreed. Due to these incidents, stopped pursing Matrix and closed funding from other top funds -- though it's unfortunate it ended the way it did -- as background reference checks demonstrated they their value add and operational competence.

I've gotten to know Nick Beim well from pitching him on several occasions and from working in a company in which he and Matrix invested. Having worked closely with several other VC board members in 4 different companies and having pitched many more, I would give Nick the highest marks in terms of integrity, thoughtfulness, fairness to the entrepreneur, energy/enthusiasm, and being an all-around good guy. He works as hard as any VC that I know and proactively adds value through strategic probing, thoughtful analysis, idea brainstorming, and relevant introductions.

The only area where he doesn't get a top grade from me is in his level of experience, as he is younger than the average VC and has invested in fewer companies. His other positives significantly outweigh his youth, however, and I would strongly recommend him as an investor / board member / advisor, particularly for internet-related ventures.

Posted by
jimtuck12
on 2007-09-18

PUBLIC:

After only spending a little time with Nick, it was clear he was smarter than me, just plain had more brainpower. Seemed soft-spoken and friendly, and I had validated from a couple others that he seems to be genuine. At least one other, on the other hand, seems to fit the typical VC mold, somewhat arrogant, without any recent results to back up the swagger, but tenured because of a couple of sweetheart deals back in the day. I think there's definitely a variance of partner you get from Matrix, not everyone is created equal.